How much capital do you need to trade full time?

[Dave1971]

Nice one - I'm in a similar boat albeit w/o such a fantastic system!

F

It's not, ! ! it's embarassingly simple but so far seems to work. I don't want to debate my strategy in an open thread, but if you want to PM me I'll gladly tell you what I'm doing. (No- I am not a charlatan trying to sell you something, just an honest Yorkshire lad willing to share my experience with a fellow trader.)

Dave

 

[ocean822]

You can trade for a living with a £1000.

Its hard but it can be done and largely dependant on the market you trade and the market conditions.

Regards
NB

What is your living standard? Put this way , I need £18000/year to live. Can I make it out £1000 trading account? like someone said in page 1. If yes, email me I give you £2000 and profit 50/50, deal?
__________________

 

[fudgestain]

As demonstrated here trading for a living doesn't work: at best its a tightrope and most times it doesn't work at all. Reason: you keep eating the seed corn. This is a treadmill or worst and usual outcome it leads to wipe out,.

High return + adding net returns to capital + rigorous pro rata stake size building = getting you to where you need to go (a very big pot of money .. do what you like then).

 

[chart3]

self-imposed limit?

Fastnet

Call me unrealistic but, I am currently trading forex, no more than two or three trades per day, often only one, and returning upwards of 75pips per week. Not exciting measured by the claims of some on these boards but it'll do for me.

Dave,

Is your limit of no more than 2-3 trades per day self-imposed for any special reason? I plan on getting into Forex soon and am not sure exactly what to expect with regards to the number of trades I should/could make daily.

-Curtis

 

[wasp]

Any amount as long as you got the skill and money management to not blow it all!

 

[bullcar]

It is possible to trade with almost no money, But COLLATERAL and LEVERAGE are the key.
eg. If you are backed even though you may have no pounds in your account, you are being backed by say £20,000 of your backers money to trade around 5 Bunds: In reality the LEVERAGE means you are trading 1/2 million euros

 

[CityTrader]

Any amount as long as you got the skill and money management to not blow it all!

Ridiculous comment.

 

[Dare]

id say max out your account on your first day take a gamble if it pays off gor for it and you can play around chopping and changeing between sizes if not go back to the drawing board.so 100k + defo

 

[yacarob1]

I started day trading Nasdaq stocks with US$ 35,000.

This was the minimum US$ 25k plus a further US$ 10K cushion of money that I could afford to lose.

My account now stands at US$ 73,000.

I have made no withdrawals and do not intend to until my account balance gets to US$ 100k.

That will then become my permanent working capital and anything over and above that will be my beer money - after paying taxes that is.

 

[DaxDestroyer]

100k or more
it takes the pressure away!

 

[top trader]

100k or more
it takes the pressure away!

100k ?

I think 10k is enough. My aim is to get 8% per month which is after a year, compounded, gives me a pot of £25,182.

After 2 years at the same rate pot grows up to 63k,after 3 years 159k,after 4 years 401k, after 5 years it grows staggering just over 1m.

I am in my 3rd year of trading , while working, trading mainly in indices.

Anything above 8% in any month I bank it.

 

[DaxDestroyer]

100k ?

I think 10k is enough. My aim is to get 8% per month which is after a year, compounded, gives me a pot of £25,182.

After 2 years at the same rate pot grows up to 63k,after 3 years 159k,after 4 years 401k, after 5 years it grows staggering just over 1m.

I am in my 3rd year of trading , while working, trading mainly in indices.

Anything above 8% in any month I bank it.

??? 8% a month ??? you should have BILLIONS this is a realistic target, but for going BANKRUPT

I wish you luck this 8% per month you do with too much risk on a too small account

 

[top trader]

??? 8% a month ??? you should have BILLIONS this is a realistic target, but for going BANKRUPT

I wish you luck this 8% per month you do with too much risk on a too small account

you need a profit of £800 per month with 10 k pot.
say you have 22 trading days in a month.
you need £37 per day.

with dow moving up and down over 100 points per day all you need is 36 points per £1/point to get your £36.i don't trade first and last one hour of trading.
with £5/point all you need is 7-8 points.

 

[DaxDestroyer]

I know, that at the very beginning it is possible

But tell me one reason, as it is sooooo easy, why not one single Hedge Fund does it???

 

[top trader]

I know, that at the very beginning it is possible

But tell me one reason, as it is sooooo easy, why not one single Hedge Fund does it???

you have to ask them........lol.

I am averaging well over 100 points per week including losses.

 

[DaxDestroyer]

100k ?

I think 10k is enough. My aim is to get 8% per month which is after a year, compounded, gives me a pot of £25,182.

After 2 years at the same rate pot grows up to 63k,after 3 years 159k,after 4 years 401k, after 5 years it grows staggering just over 1m.

I am in my 3rd year of trading , while working, trading mainly in indices.

Anything above 8% in any month I bank it.

you have to ask them........lol.

I am averaging well over 100 points per week including losses.

with dow moving up and down over 100 points per day all you need is 36 points per £1/point to get your £36.i don't trade first and last one hour of trading.
with £5/point all you need is 7-8 points.

So

3rd year means around 100k ?
8.000 per month (pounds)?

Or even more?

So obviously your size is already 15 or 20 pounds/point?

I'm eagerly waiting to hear from you around your 10th year :innocent:

 

[seguna]

DaxD

It is NOT impossible, especially at this level of trading and with the sort of leverage and risk management TT is talking about.

It's a matter of discipline and knowing what you're looking for in the market and from your trades. As for Hedge funds and 'why don't they do it if it's so easy?' you could ask the same question for any other vocation. Some funds probably are doing just this, maybe not with the same numbers but they're doing it.

Obviously it'll become an issue for the trader/fund manager when trading account size is in the millions. This is because corresponding trade size needed to achieve the same percentage returns for the same price moves increases dramatically. This is where a lot of successful traders who wish to trade bigger often start looking at FX. Others just split their accounts into different markets/instruments/time zones etc. This way, they can maintain their account size and potential percentage returns without becoming too big a player in their chosen market and start disrupting prices by their very own activity. Few of course get to achieve this level of success but it can and does happen, all the time, and not only in trading.

TT, keep up the good work. Stay focused and keep growing that account. One question though, on an annual return basis, are you using 8% X 12 = 96% or
8% per month compounded over 12 months = 151.8%?

 

[DaxDestroyer]

DaxD

It is NOT impossible, especially at this level of trading and with the sort of leverage and risk management TT is talking about.

It's a matter of discipline and knowing what you're looking for in the market and from your trades. As for Hedge funds and 'why don't they do it if it's so easy?' you could ask the same question for any other vocation. Some funds probably are doing just this, maybe not with the same numbers but they're doing it.

Obviously it'll become an issue for the trader/fund manager when trading account size is in the millions. This is because corresponding trade size needed to achieve the same percentage returns for the same price moves increases dramatically. This is where a lot of successful traders who wish to trade bigger often start looking at FX. Others just split their accounts into different markets/instruments/time zones etc. This way, they can maintain their account size and potential percentage returns without becoming too big a player in their chosen market and start disrupting prices by their very own activity. Few of course get to achieve this level of success but it can and does happen, all the time, and not only in trading.

TT, keep up the good work. Stay focused and keep growing that account. One question though, on an annual return basis, are you using 8% X 12 = 96% or
8% per month compounded over 12 months = 151.8%?

He compounds obviously and sorry just calculate his risk of ruin I would not give a single cent to a guy with this kind of riskmanagement

May be I'm just too conservative after 25 years of trading

Don't get me wrong though: I wish him all the success he gets his hands on.

BUT

Not my kind of trading. That said, reading comments from my
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/foyer/27957-why-2008-will-good-year.html
post, that I am NUTS to double my size :clap:

The only thing, I can control in the market, is my RISK

This is why I went

 

[top trader]

He compounds obviously and sorry just calculate his risk of ruin I would not give a single cent to a guy with this kind of riskmanagement

May be I'm just too conservative after 25 years of trading

Don't get me wrong though: I wish him all the success he gets his hands on.

BUT

Not my kind of trading. That said, reading comments from my
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/foyer/27957-why-2008-will-good-year.html
post, that I am NUTS to double my size :clap:

The only thing, I can control in the market, is my RISK

This is why I went

just to prove my point, long dow at 13255, hoping to get 70+points

 

[DaxDestroyer]

just to prove my point, long dow at 13255, hoping to get 70+points

Trading is nothing you should use to proof your point, my friend!

As long as you are fine with your strategy and don't complain in case you get hurt. Which would prove the point, that you were aware of the possible consequences, EVERYBODY IS FINE! If you are a huge success, EVERYBODY is HAPPY.

Life can be easy

:clap::clap::clap:

I'm not here to fight or to prove my point. I;m here to communicate, to learn and to develop my trading further.

Take care!